Do you or your sales people ever feel uncomfortable discussing the money?

Whether you are selling a product, a service or a solution at some point you will need to discuss money. This can often be the awkward moment as many people feel discomfort as this part of the sales process. If you feel uncomfortable and the people you are selling to feel uncomfortable this can lead to a breakdown in rapport, maybe the classic objection of ‘I will think about it’ or a false interest to get rid of you.

Here is some help – for the full version come along to a Sandler Sales Masterclass briefing at a local training centre as our guest.

Firstly think about your background and how money was discussed when you were a child; maybe money was plentiful and there was always more where that came from. Or, like me, you came from a modest background and money was hard to come by and every penny was important. Perhaps adults did not talk about money when you came into the room – it’s no wonder discussing money can be difficult.

If you came from the ‘money is plentiful’ background, how do you think your tonality comes across when dealing with a ‘money scarce’ background person? “It’s only a few thousand surely that’s affordable” can put your prospect in emotionally difficulty. Or your sales people may be afraid of discussing big figures as they may never be in a position to afford the purchase themselves. This can sound like …”Oh! The quote has come out more than I expected, let me see if I can discount that for you as it’s a lot of money”. This is where sales people give away margin even without any price objection.

At Sandler we teach people to be ‘Disarmingly Honest’. An example of this would be “I think I may be able to help you with what we have. Is it okay to discuss budget & investment with you now? I sometime get uncomfortable discussing money I don’t know about you? Well, we need to cover the figures so is it okay if I go through these to make sure I don’t miss anything? Honest – absolutely. Good for rapport building with a client – you bet.

If they claim to be okay talking about money you have simply built rapport and got their permission to start to talk about it. If you are okay talking about money next time stop to think about your prospect – are they?